They all were replaying the last 1:20 of Tuesday night's Game7 in their heads. That was all it took for the Hurricanes to score twice and post a stunning 4-3 upset to knock the Devils out of the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, silencing a sellout crowd in Newark.

"Just the way it ended ..." Devils captain Jamie Langenbrunner said as he struggled with his emotions. "We did so many good things most of the game and to not finish it off ... it's just shocking. I can't believe it."

Eighty seconds away from putting away the Hurricanes and advancing to the second round, the Devils were caught on their heels as the Hurricanes swarmed Brodeur. Jussi Jokinen scored on a one-timer from Brodeur's left side with 1:20 to play to tie the game at 3-3, and Eric Staal then scored the series-winner 48 seconds later on a shot from the right circle that got between Brodeur's stick and his leg.

The sixth-seeded Hurricanes, who fought off the Devils in two elimination games, advance to play the top-seeded Bruins in the second round. The third-seeded Devils are left to look back at their lifeless showing in Game6 and the collapse in the final 1:20 of their season.

"This is what happens when you let it get to a Game7," Devils coach Brent Sutter said. "This just stuns you."

The Devils fell behind early on Tuomo Ruutu's goal at 1:02, but Langenbrunner tied it 1:29 later. The Devils' Jay Pandolfo scored his first goal of the series late in the period, and Ray Whitney knotted it for Carolina early in the second before Brian Rolston's power-play goal at 6:47 of the period put the Devils ahead 3-2.

The Devils killed off three consecutive penalties in the second and seemed to be wresting control of the back-and-forth series again - until the final 1:20.

That was when Jokinen found himself alone on the wing and snapped home a cross-ice pass from Joni Pitkanen, before Staal followed with the knockout blow.

"It's definitely shocking. We had them on the ropes," Brodeur said. "You're in control for most of the game, we had our chances to put them away and once again we left a team hanging around and once again the puck bounces on their side again."

Brodeur, who had 27 saves, said this was the most shocking loss of his career. Elias, who did not score after the first game of the series, said it was the hardest Game7 loss of his career and that he will look back at the Devils' missed opportunities.

"Their top guys came through at the right time. Me personally, I didn't," Elias said. "I had the chances and everything but it wasn't there. I am looked on and counted on to be productive and help the team to win, and you look at some of the games we lost I didn't make a difference obviously.